A common deleterious effect from prolonged or repetitive sitting is the differential effect on the person's body with respect to anterior and posterior muscles and ligaments. It is well understood that prolonged or repetitive sitting leads to tighter, shorter anterior muscles and ligaments in a person's body and a concomitant, but opposite, effect on the posterior muscles and ligaments, which are lengthened and weakened. Other activities of a repetitive or prolonged nature can cause a similar deleterious effect on a person's body because as muscles and ligaments around joints become imbalanced, posture and movement become affected leading to knee, hip, back, neck and shoulder pain. The most common causes of movement dysfunction and pain are the muscular and ligamentous imbalance and subsequent joint irritation that proceeds from these imbalances.
Numerous methods and treatments have been devised to treat muscle and joint pain. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,468,192 entitled “Frame for Body Stretching Exercises” describes a frame for stretching the upper and lower body as well as the abdominal muscles. See '192 patent Col. 3:43-4:5. The '192 patent is directed toward pre-exercise stretching as a means of avoiding injury and general stretching to enhance health. Id. at Col. 1:10-21.
Similarly, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0181917 entitled “Back Traction and Muscle Stretching Bench,” describes an angled bench having a leg attachment, which is used to place an individual's back in traction. The force of the traction applied to the user's spine can be varied. The goal of the '917 patent publication is to provide a variety of traction, stretching, and exercise solutions for treating and preventing pain in the lumbar region. See '917 patent publication at ¶0001.
In addition, international patent publication number WO 2013/102250 entitled “Gravity Assisted Spine Decompression Apparatus,” discloses a device “designed to relax the user's back muscles as gravity safely and smoothly decompresses his/her thoracic and lumbar vertebrae while lying chest side on the apparatus; and same said apparatus being made reconfigurable to safely and smoothly decompress the user's cervical vertebrae while lying back side on the apparatus.” See Abstract of '250 patent publication.
While each of these devices claim to provide relief for back pain, or aid in the stretching of abdominal or back muscles, each of these devices is designed to principally stretch the posterior muscles and ligaments of the body. None of these devices stretches the anterior muscles and ligaments, which is problematic because, the more we sit, the shorter the anterior muscles and ligaments become. It is therefore desirable to have a device that can stretch and elongate the anterior muscles and ligaments that become tight and protect the lax, weaker and longer posterior muscles that result from prolonged periods of sitting.